


Millennium Rewind

by sugarhime



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25549897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarhime/pseuds/sugarhime
Summary: It's been 20 years since Cloud Strife disappeared. The memory of New Years still haunted Squall Leonhart’s every moment—the image of blonde hair and blue eyes fading out of sight as the phantom pains of standing frozen with fear guilted him everyday. Squall would do anything to redo it all. From the moment he met Cloud, to the moment he lost him. One day, he wakes up in his 18 year old body with every memory of the past 20 years still in tact. Is this a chance to relive the painful past or can he rewrite destiny with the boy who never left 1999?
Relationships: Cloud/Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Squall Leonhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Millennium Rewind

It was New Years Eve of 1999.

Squall could still visualize that night like it had happened yesterday. He knew that night and he knew it very well.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, calling out Cloud’s name. The blonde paused midway and turned around, his blue eyes stared over his shoulder, piercing the brunette as he stood still, hoping Cloud would come back down. But before he knew it, Cloud had disappeared to the roof.

Squall couldn't bring himself to follow him. He crumbled to his knees, clutching them close to his face as he tried everything in his power to go up the stairs. But the strength never came. He was scared. He was a coward.

He ran every possible outcome in his head; His dear friend would have to come down again eventually, right? He just—He just needed to cool his head off, then he'd return down the stairs and they’d be friends again. 

So he waited.

And he waited on those stairs for hours.

Even when midnight struck and the fireworks were loud, it couldn't mask the sound of Squall's rapid heartbeat rattling his ribcage as he fell deeper into his insecurities, wondering why Cloud wouldn't swallow his pride and come back downstairs.

He wanted to see the fireworks with Cloud. He wanted to spend New Years with him. It was supposed to be special. 

Did Cloud really hate him that much that he couldn't take the higher road and tell Squall he was sorry?

Was he waiting all this time for him to come up to the roof? He must have hated him even more for how weak Squall was in this moment.  
  


He couldn't bring himself to. He was prideful and he didn’t know what to say--and he was scared of what Cloud would say to him. He could say sorry, but he couldn't bear it if Cloud wouldn't forgive him. 

He wasn’t strong enough to have Cloud say he hated him. He knew Cloud was mad at him, but he couldn't blame him, he was mad at himself, too. 

And Squall would stay mad at himself.

When midnight had passed, Aerith and Tifa found him the next morning, forcing him to go up on the roof so he could go apologize to Cloud. But Cloud wasn't there. 

They had searched every inch of that roof, Squall calling out his name until his voice went hoarse, looking for any trace of him.

How could he vanish into thin air? There was only one entrance to the roof---

But there were two ways to exit.

They searched the grounds for hours, even when evening rolled around and the sun began to set again. But they couldn’t find him.

And they never would.

They’d never see Cloud Strife again.

Squall thought about that night, running it through his head like a VHS tape, wondering if he had missed something.

And he thought about it everyday for the next twenty years.


End file.
